The Rise Of Silas Lapham By William Dean Howells Part 1, William Dean Howells [the red fox clan txt] 📗
- Author: William Dean Howells
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His Wife Permitted him This Pretence Also. "What Sort
Of A Person Is He, Anyway?"
"Well, Not Much Like His Son. There'S No Sort Of Business
About Him. I Don'T Know Just How You'D Describe Him.
He'S Tall; And He'S Got White Hair And A Moustache;
And His Fingers Are Very Long And Limber. I Couldn'T Help
Noticing them As He Sat There With His Hands On The Top
Of His Cane. Didn'T Seem To Be Dressed very Much, And Acted
Just Like Anybody. Didn'T Talk Much. Guess I Did Most
Of The Talking. Said He Was Glad I Seemed to Be Getting
Along So Well With His Son. He Asked after You And Irene;
And He Said He Couldn'T Feel Just Like A Stranger.
Said You Had Been Very Kind To His Wife. Of Course I Turned
It Off. Yes," Said Lapham Thoughtfully, With His Hands
Resting on His Knees, And His Cigar Between The Fingers
Of His Left Hand, "I Guess He Meant To Do The Right Thing,
Every Way. Don'T Know As I Ever Saw A Much Pleasanter Man.
Dunno But What He'S About The Pleasantest Man I Ever
Did See." He Was Not Letting his Wife See In his Averted
Face The Struggle That Revealed itself There--The
Struggle Of Stalwart Achievement Not To Feel Flattered
At The Notice Of Sterile Elegance, Not To Be Sneakingly
Glad Of Its Amiability, But To Stand Up And Look At It
With Eyes On The Same Level. God, Who Made Us So Much
Like Himself, But Out Of The Dust, Alone Knows When
That Struggle Will End. The Time Had Been When Lapham
Could Not Have Imagined any Worldly Splendour Which His
Dollars Could Not Buy If He Chose To Spend Them For It;
But His Wife'S Half Discoveries, Taking form Again In his
Ignorance Of The World, Filled him With Helpless Misgiving.
A Cloudy Vision Of Something unpurchasable, Where He
Had Supposed there Was Nothing, Had Cowed him In spite
Of The Burly Resistance Of His Pride.
"I Don'T See Why He Shouldn'T Be Pleasant," Said Mrs. Lapham.
"He'S Never Done Anything else."
Lapham Looked up Consciously, With An Uneasy Laugh.
"Pshaw, Persis! You Never Forget Anything?"
"Oh, I'Ve Got More Than That To Remember. I Suppose You
Asked him To Ride After The Mare?"
"Well," Said Lapham, Reddening guiltily, "He Said He
Was Afraid Of A Good Horse."
"Then, Of Course, You Hadn'T Asked him." Mrs. Lapham
Crocheted in silence, And Her Husband Leaned back
In His Chair And Smoked.
At Last He Said, "I'M Going to Push That House Forward.
They'Re Loafing on It. There'S No Reason Why We Shouldn'T
Be In it By Thanksgiving. I Don'T Believe In moving in
The Dead Of Winter."
"We Can Wait Till Spring. We'Re Very Comfortable In the
of 1 Part 11 Pg 124Old Place," Answered his Wife. Then She Broke Out On Him:
"What Are You In such A Hurry To Get Into That House
For? Do You Want To Invite The Coreys To A House-Warming?"
Lapham Looked at Her Without Speaking.
"Don'T You Suppose I Can See Through You I Declare,
Silas Lapham, If I Didn'T Know Different, I Should Say
You Were About The Biggest Fool! Don'T You Know Anything?
Don'T You Know That It Wouldn'T Do To Ask Those People
To Our House Before They'Ve Asked us To Theirs? They'D
Laugh In our Faces!"
"I Don'T Believe They'D Laugh In our Faces. What'S The
Difference Between Our Asking them And Their Asking us?"
Demanded the Colonel Sulkily.
"Oh, Well! If You Don T See!"
"Well, I Don'T See. But I Don'T Want To Ask Them
To The House. I Suppose, If I Want To, I Can Invite
Him Down To A Fish Dinner At Taft'S."
Mrs. Lapham Fell Back In her Chair, And Let Her Work
Drop In her Lap With That "Tckk!" In which Her Sex Knows
How To Express Utter Contempt And Despair.
"What'S The Matter?"
"Well, If You Do Such A Thing, Silas, I'Ll Never Speak
To You Again! It'S No Use! It'S No Use! I Did Think,
After You'D Behaved so Well About Rogers, I Might Trust
You A Little. But I See I Can'T. I Presume As Long As You
Live You'Ll Have To Be Nosed about Like A Perfect--I Don'T
Know What!"
"What Are You Making such A Fuss About?" Demanded lapham,
Terribly Crestfallen, But Trying to Pluck Up A Spirit.
"I Haven'T Done Anything yet. I Can'T Ask Your Advice
About Anything any More Without Having you Fly Out.
Confound It! I Shall Do As I Please After This."
But As If He Could Not Endure That Contemptuous Atmosphere,
He Got Up, And His Wife Heard Him In the Dining-Room
Pouring himself Out A Glass Of Ice-Water, And Then Heard
Him Mount The Stairs To Their Room, And Slam Its Door
After Him.
"Do You Know What Your Father'S Wanting to Do Now?"
Mrs. Lapham Asked her Eldest Daughter, Who Lounged
Into The Parlour A Moment With Her Wrap Stringing
From Her Arm, While The Younger Went Straight To Bed.
"He Wants To Invite Mr. Corey'S Father To A Fish Dinner
At Taft'S!"
Penelope Was Yawning with Her Hand On Her Mouth;
She Stopped, And, With A Laugh Of Amused expectance,
Sank Into A Chair, Her Shoulders Shrugged forward.
of 1 Part 11 Pg 125
"Why! What In the World Has Put The Colonel Up To That?"
"Put Him Up To It! There'S That Fellow, Who Ought Have Come
To See Him Long Ago, Drops Into His Office This Morning,
And Talks Five Minutes With Him, And Your Father Is
Flattered out Of His Five Senses. He'S Crazy To Get
In With Those People, And I Shall Have A Perfect Battle
To Keep Him Within Bounds."
"Well, Persis, Ma'Am, You Can'T Say But What You Began It,"
Said Penelope.
"Oh Yes, I Began It," Confessed mrs. Lapham. "Pen," She
Broke Out, "What Do You Suppose He Means By It?"
"Who? Mr. Corey'S Father? What Does The Colonel Think?"
"Oh, The Colonel!" Cried mrs. Lapham. She Added tremulously:
"Perhaps He Is Right. He Did Seem To Take A Fancy To Her
Last Summer, And Now If He'S Called in that Way . . ." She Left
Her Daughter To Distribute The Pronouns Aright, And Resumed:
"Of Course, I Should Have Said Once That There Wasn'T
Any Question About It. I Should Have Said So Last Year;
And I Don'T Know What It Is Keeps Me From Saying so Now.
I Suppose I Know A Little More About Things Than I Did;
And Your Father'S Being so Bent On It Sets Me All In
A Twitter. He Thinks His Money Can Do Everything.
Well, I Don'T Say But What It Can, A Good Many. And 'Rene
Is As Good A Child As Ever There Was; And I Don'T See
But What She'S Pretty-Appearing enough To Suit Any One.
She'S Pretty-Behaved, Too; And She Is The Most Capable Girl.
I Presume Young Men Don'T Care Very Much For Such
Things Nowadays; But There Ain'T A Great Many Girls
Can Go Right Into The Kitchen, And Make Such A Custard
As She Did Yesterday. And Look At The Way She Does,
Through The Whole House! She Can'T Seem To Go Into A Room
Without The Things Fly Right Into Their Places. And If She
Had To Do It To-Morrow, She Could Make All Her Own Dresses
A Great Deal Better Than Them We Pay To Do It. I Don'T
Say But What He'S About As Nice A Fellow As Ever Stepped.
But There! I'M Ashamed of Going on So."
"Well, Mother," Said The Girl After A Pause, In which She
Looked as If A Little Weary Of The Subject, "Why Do You
Worry About It? If It'S To Be It'Ll Be, And If It Isn'T----"
"Yes, That'S What I Tell Your Father. But When It Comes
To Myself, I See How Hard It Is For Him To Rest Quiet.
I'M Afraid We Shall All Do Something we'Ll Repent
Of Afterwards."
"Well, Ma'Am," Said Penelope, "I Don'T Intend To Do Anything wrong;
But If I Do, I Promise Not To Be Sorry For It. I'Ll Go
That Far. And I Think I Wouldn'T Be Sorry For It Beforehand,
If I Were In your Place, Mother. Let The Colonel Go On! He
Likes To Manoeuvre, And He Isn'T Going to Hurt Any One.
The Corey Family Can Take Care Of Themselves, I Guess."
of 1 Part 11 Pg 126
She Laughed in her Throat, Drawing down The Corners
Of Her Mouth, And Enjoying the Resolution With Which Her
Mother Tried to Fling off The Burden Of Her Anxieties.
"Pen! I Believe You'Re Right. You Always Do See Things
In Such A Light! There! I Don'T Care If He Brings Him
Down Every Day."
"Well, Ma'Am," Said Pen, "I Don'T Believe
'Rene Would, Either. She'S Just So Indifferent!"
The Colonel Slept Badly That Night, And In the Morning
Mrs. Lapham Came To Breakfast Without Him.
"Your Father Ain'T Well," She Reported. "He'S Had One
Of His Turns."
"I Should Have Thought He Had Two Or Three Of Them,"
Said Penelope, "By The Stamping round I Heard. Isn'T He
Coming to Breakfast?"
"Not Just Yet," Said Her Mother. "He'S Asleep,
And He'Ll Be All Right If He Gets His Nap Out.
I Don'T Want You Girls Should Make Any Great Noise."
"Oh, We'Ll Be Quiet Enough," Returned penelope.
"Well, I'M Glad The Colonel Isn'T Sojering. At First I
Thought He Might Be Sojering." She Broke Into A Laugh,
And, Struggling indolently With It, Looked at Her Sister.
"You Don'T Think It'Ll Be Necessary For Anybody To Come
Down From The Office And Take Orders From Him While He'S
Laid Up, Do You, Mother?" She Inquired.
"Pen!" Cried irene.
"He'Ll Be Well Enough To Go Up On The Ten O'Clock Boat,"
Said The Mother Sharply.
"I Think Papa Works Too Hard All Through The Summer.
Why Don'T You Make Him Take A Rest, Mamma?" Asked irene.
"Oh, Take A Rest! The Man Slaves Harder Every Year.
It Used to Be So That He'D Take A Little Time Off Now And Then;
But I Declare, He Hardly Ever Seems To Breathe Now Away From
His Office. And This Year He Says He Doesn'T Intend To Go
Down To Lapham, Except To See After The Works For A Few Days.
I Don'T Know What To Do With The Man Any More! Seems
As If The More Money He Got, The More He Wanted to Get.
It Scares Me To Think What Would Happen To Him If He
Lost It. I Know One Thing," Concluded mrs. Lapham.
"He Shall
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